On the Books Apr. 12: Gay penguin book tops list of controversial books, Amazon offering ad-supported Kindle, and more

And Tango Makes Three once again waddles into the top spot of the American Library Association’s Top Ten List of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2010. The adorable children’s book tells the true tale of two male emperor penguins in the Central Park Zoo who find an abandoned egg and raise the chick together. For the past five years, the book has had human parents up in arms due to its positive portrayal of same-sex bird parents and has been banned in school districts around the country. Other books on the list: The Hunger Games, Twilight, and Brave New World.

Starting May 3, Amazon will ship the “Kindle with Special Offers”—or a Kindle with ads—for $114, which is $25 off the regular retail price. Amazon promises that the ads won’t interfere with the reading experience—they’ll be confined to the bottom of the home page and the screen saver. Still, is $25 a small price to pay to avoid another outlet for advertisers?

Warren Ellis, whose graphic novel Red was adapted into a hit movie last year, is writing a thriller currently titled Gun Machine, planned for release in 2012. I hope it gets made into a movie just for the title alone. Gun Machine sounds like a fictional movie from Seinfeld.

A rare, valuable copy of Action Comics No. 1., stolen from actor Nicolas Cage more than a decade ago, has turned up in a Los Angeles-area storage locker. Such rare comic books can be sold upwards of $1 million, and needless to say, Cage says he would like it back. Taking the collectible to eBay would no doubt ease some of his financial woes.